Quantifying Hepatic Lipid Fraction

MR examinations were performed on a 1.5-T scanner (Achieva XR, Philips Healthcare, Best, Netherlands) as previously described in detail before [18 (link)]. In brief, single-voxel MR spectra were acquired using a point-resolved spectroscopy (PRESS) technique. Voxels sized 8 cm³ were placed in liver segment VII avoiding larger bile ducts and vessels. MR spectra were analyzed with a commercial tool that determines the relative concentrations of hepatic lipids (LCModel 6.3, Oakville, Canada) and the liver fat content was calculated as relative hepatic fat fraction (given in %). The liver volume calculation was performed using a custom-made software tool (Matlab, MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA).